hearing about those 71% of americans who say we need documents and witnesses. barbara boxer, former senator of california, let me ask you a question. this is about guts, it s about nerve. how long can nancy pelosi, the speaker as a person because she s making this decision personally, how long can she hold those documents? when they get back to the house coming back into session next year january 7th, first tuesday back, how long can she hold onto those documents politically and get away with it? well, it s a great question, but right now i think senator blumenthal is right. for her to just send those articles over to the senate after the foreman of the jury essentially stepped out to the microphone and said there s no difference between the way i feel and the way trump s lawyers feel, what she s done is remarkable. and i don t think she s out there on her own, chris. i think she is i know how she works.
the two thirds vote, so no one would be paying attention to mitch mcconnell. i agree with that. and the way he runs the senate, which is as my good former colleague, whom i miss, will tell you is with an iron fist, and he s the self-described grim reaper. let me ask senator blumenthal. you re on the judiciary committee. suppose mitch mcconnell, we know what he is. sometimes he s elmer fudd, sometimes bugs bunny. i don t know what he s up to with this one. suppose he comes back like bugs bunny and says you want two witnesses, i want joe and hunter biden. by the way, i also twanlt want the whistle-blower. what do you say if he says here s the deal i want all the witnesses, not just yours? how do you respond? well, chris, that s a great question. what we have ultimately is the power to call for a vote and put
said of trump, he ll be impeached forever no matter what the senate does. he s impeached forever because he violated our constitution. i m joined now by richard senator blumenthal of connecticut, a member of the senate judiciary committee. former senator barbara boxer of california, and noah feldman, professor at harvard law school, one of the witnesses to testify to the house judiciary committee earlier this month about the legal arguments on impeachment. i want to start with senator blumenthal about this. where do you stand on the constitutional question? does pelosi have the prerogative to hold back the articles? this decision is indeed nancy pelosi s to make. and her position is fully understandable that she wants some assurance there will be a full, fair, honest trial with witnesses and documents. after all of the extraordinarily able work done by the house committee and the courage of
dramatically in the house impeachment articles that the president is continuing to solicit help from the russians. he is continuing to sustain and support these crackpot conspiracies about the ukrainians not the russians attacking our country, and it is a danger to our national security that we must resist and reject. well, maybe one of your colleagues, senator mitch mcconnell of utah is going to stand forth and be a profile in courage, mitt romney rather. mitt romney, he could make a difference. blumenthal of connecticut, always great having you on. and my friend barbara boxer, please keep coming back. it s great having you on. professor, i was so impressed by your testimony. thank you for coming here on hardball. again, a perennial request for your presence here. coming up, an influential evangelical magazine receives the wrath of trump for an op-ed calling for his removal from office. christianity today cites
senator flake conclusion by saying, if there s ever a time to put country over party, it s now. professor, thank you. how do you resolve this? how does this come out of the wash in two weeks? now, the recess is not until the first or second week really in january. this could go on. how could you see it resolved? i think it s only resolved by some negotiated solution in the senate where the senators figure out exactly what the procedure is going to be and come to terms with who s going to be called. and then the articles will be transmitted and the trial is going to happen, and that has to happen. it s necessary under the constitution at this point for there to be an actual trial in the senate. so i see a resolution coming when a negotiated solution is reached, which will have to be reached. senator blumenthal, how do you get republicans to look at this as a conscientious decision that they really are jurors, they re not just politicians? well, of course mitch mcconnell has said h